Will you participate in this experiment and type "Pit Bull Dogs" into Google and share the results?

Inspired by Barack Obama’s comment on how we create our own reality on David Letterman’s new show on Netflix.

”Obama then recounted a science experiment (“not a big scientific experiment, but just an experiment that somebody did during the revolution that was taking place in Egypt”) where a liberal, a conservative and a “quote-unquote moderate” were asked to search for “Egypt,” and Google presented each of them with very different results.

“Whatever your biases were, that’s where you were being sent, and that gets more reinforced over time,” he said. “That’s what’s happening with these Facebook pages where more and more people are getting their news from. At a certain point you just live in a bubble, and that’s part of why our politics is so polarized right now.”Source

It was really hard to figure out what I should suggest we look for. After thinking about it I decided that Pit Bulls are a pretty controversial animal, and it’s likely that most of us have done research on them in some form or another. If anyone has a better idea of what to search for, suggestions are welcome.

34 Answers

I got just general information about Pit Bull dogs in general. I got nothing that mentioned them being dangerous except for in the “people also ask” section where it asked “are Pit Bulls Vicious?” I got no ads but this was the first Link

The following is basic breed information for anyone who is interested in acquiring a Pit Bull. And for those who already have one or more and would like to learn more about the breed, or simply for anyone who would like to understand these great dogs…..read on. This page discusses the most notable traits of Pit Bull type…
Myths and Facts About Pit Bulls | Petfinderhttps://www.petfinder.com/pet-adoption/dog.../myths-and-facts-about-pit-bulls/

Dec 22, 2016 – There is so much confusion these days about the pit bulls. Are they a breed or are they a “type” of dog? Even owners can’t agree. The truth is that American pit bull terriers are in fact a distinct breed; they are part of a group of working breeds that descended from the Molosser dog. Because of this, they look…
SWEETEST Pit Bull Labeled ‘Dog Aggressive’ | The Dodo – YouTube
Video for Pit Bull Dogs
▶ 1:43https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6GbDsnJVOI
Jul 8, 2017 – Uploaded by The Dodo
SWEETEST Pit Bull Labeled ‘Dog Aggressive’ | Everyone said this pittie was “dog aggressive,” but he’s…
Position Statement on Pit Bulls | ASPCAhttps://www.aspca.org/about-us/aspca-policy-and.../position-statement-pit-bulls

It is important to evaluate and treat each dog, no matter its breed, as an individual.
Study: Pit Bulls Are Less Aggressive Than Chihuahuas – The Atlantichttps://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/09/pit-bulls-are-chiller.../500558/
When a hospital records that a dog who bit someone is a pit bull, they rely on the report of the victim, parents, or a witness. No one does a DNA test to make sure. Media coverage of attacks tends to encourage this misidentification: In 2008, a pit bull attack that hospitalized a woman generated 230 articles…
10 Stereotypes About Pit Bulls That Are Just. Dead. Wrong. | HuffPosthttps://www.huffingtonpost.com/arin-greenwood/pit-bull-myths_b_5623555.html
HuffPost Green is launching a week-long, community-driven effort to bust the myths and raise awareness about pit bulls, a maligned “breed” that often bears the brunt of dated, discriminatory legislation that can make it near impossible for these dogs to find a forever home. You can follow along with HuffPost…
KFC Victoria Wilcher: Why Do So Many Pit Bulls Maul Children? | Time
time.com/2891180/kfc-and-the-pit-bull-attack-of-a-little-girl/
Pit bulls make up only 6% of the dog population, but they’re responsible for 68% of dog attacks and 52% of dog-related deaths since 1982, according to research compiled by Merritt Clifton, editor of Animals 24–7, an animal-news organization that focuses on humane work and animal-cruelty prevention

Interesting. I got twin pictures side by side. The one on the left was the exact photo of the brown doggie in your (dutchess) link. The second was of the same dog snarling menacingly and straining at the end of a taut leash.

Uhhh, I own a pittie and I think that he is the sweetest little boy ever. It’s not the dog, it’s the carrier. (and of course, there are a few exceptions to this, where the dog is the problem, but not as often as the owner)

my daughter has a pit bull and there’s nothing vicious about him at all. His problem is his knock you down enthusiasm, though if you’re quick enough to yell “SIT” he complies instantly. He sits there, but you can see it’s killing him. The dog sits there and vibrates. My kid says he thinks he’s wagging his tail.

@Dutchess_III How do you mean? Expectations of what I already think I know about pitbulls, or of what I expect Google will show me?

I am not surprised by the results, but I did find it interesting how my top results seemed laden with warnings of violence and suggestions to kill pit bulls, while most all of the later results were in the other direction. I am curious what that is about…

I was aware that there were conflicting viewpoints, and this showed them. It has me wondering if the low-attention-span people don’t tend to correlate to people who think pit bulls are all dangerous and should be killed, while people with more patience who might scroll down further might tend to want more information, be more tolerant, and/or realize each dog is different. The order of results does seem to match that, though I don’t know if that’s the correlation, or what is causing it. I’m sure the Google algorithms are quite elaborate.

I have worked with animals for 20 years. 10 years in emergency medicine. They are great dogs.

Once, I was working triage, and getting vitals on a pitt. He was white, and about 2 years old. I noticed these odd scars all over it’s back. Long deep scars. I asked the owner about them.

Listen closely.

The dog had been stolen, and was being trained to become a fighting dog. The “trainer” was using a blowtorch, to torture the dog into being mean. The dog was found by the owner’s son, and purchased back.
The interesting thing about this is that the dog was so kind and loving, even after what he endured. It shows what lengths you have to go to to make them into the animals that show up in shelters, or the media. They are just like any other animal. They are a product of their upbringing. No more. No less.

^^Just like humans. If you raise a child to be racist and hateful, more than likely they will grow up that way. Now, it’s a bit different for humans because we can choose to not be hateful and mean, despite being racist that way because we have the cognitive ability too. But dogs don’t know any better. And if you instill that behavior into them, and nothing else, that’s all they got.
You can do it to humans too, where you condition them to only do certain things, like give a social security number instead of answering questions, and the same for political/religious beliefs, so even though they should know better, they can’t because they were conditioned against that. It’s kind of like what you are talking about @Dutchess_lll but to a way less extreme (google isn’t beating us and torturing us) but you can see that by only giving us certain sites and certain info, that’s all we have to go off of and that’s what we believe.

@Dutchess_lll I don’t know what you mean by my results dovetailing with my expectations. The link that came up for me as a list of myths and facts, not a position piece. But I like separating fantasy from reality, so I guess the link matches my expectations.

@SergeantQueen“They are very sweet and I don’t think this search was biased.” You missed my point. The searches came up tailored to each person’s expectations. It came up based on what you’ve looked for in the past.
I have a problem with pit bulls. My husband does too, and he’s a serious dog person. I don’t want to argue this point, but the fact that the first thing on MY Google list was “Dangerous Dog Breeds” tells you something.
For others, who believe pit bulls are not dangerous, Wikipedia came up first on their search list.

When I worked in emergency veterinary medicine, cremation was a big business. We had a morgue on site. Some poor guy came twice a week to pull all the frozen animals out. They had a catalogue of urns, and other things. They also offered to scatter the ashes in a large area the company owns…

I wouldn’t want any ashes/cremains either, but each to his or her own.